Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider giving compensation to those whose main activity is the haulage of livestock.

Ross Finnie: I recognise and sympathise with your concerns about the livelihoods of hauliers. Their situation will have eased with the introduction on Saturday 3 March of a scheme of licensed movements of pigs, cattle and sheep outside infected areas direct to slaughter.

Agriculture

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in relation to Common Agricultural Policy subsidy payments during the current foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Ross Finnie: We will be implementing the CAP subsidy rules as flexibly as possible where producers have been unable to comply with these due to the foot-and-mouth disease restrictions. We will also be making balance and other payments under the schemes as early as possible to address cash flow problems.

  We will issue a letter shortly to all livestock producers in Scotland providing more detail on the scheme rule flexibilities and the future schedule of payments. A copy will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Caledonian MacBrayne

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is regarding the current fare structure of Caledonian MacBrayne.

Sarah Boyack: I expect to receive shortly a report from CalMac on the conclusions of a review of its current fares structure. I shall take decisions in the light of those conclusions.

Community Care

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional measures are being taken to support vulnerable people living independently in the community.

Malcolm Chisholm: We are providing the guidance and resources to implement a wide range of measures which will assist vulnerable people.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider its decision not to replace the external adjudicators of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise with ombudsmen and whether the use of an external adjudicator is contrary to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights in terms of whether such use constitutes hearings before an independent and impartial tribunal.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Executive has not yet made a decision on whether to replace the external adjudicators of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise with an ombudsman. The question was discussed in the Executive’s consultation paper Modernising the Complaints System . The closing date for comments was 10 January 2001 and we are currently analysing the responses. The Executive aims to publish a second consultation paper in the spring, setting out detailed proposals based on these responses.

  In terms of Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), whatever complaints system is put in place after the consultation, whether a continuation of the current system or otherwise, will be compliant with ECHR.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make additional financial aid available to the catching and processing sectors in the light of the current situation in the fishing industry.

Rhona Brankin: We announced last October the availability of record levels of support for the fisheries sector under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). We also announced this morning a £27 million package of support for the industry. That includes up to £25 million for decommissioning during the coming financial year, to bring whitefish capacity more closely into line with available fishing opportunities and help put the remainder of the fleet on a sounder financial footing for the future; additional resources to support conservation measures and £1 million to implement the report of the Scottish Fish Processors’ Working Group.

Fisheries

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to support fishermen during the period of the cod recovery plan.

Rhona Brankin: The full range of cod recovery measures has yet to be agreed: the closed areas in the North Sea and off the west coast represent initial, emergency measures to help protect cod stocks. The aim of recovery measures is of course to help ensure sustainable and viable fisheries in the longer term, in the interests of fishermen and fishing communities.

  We announced last October the availability of record levels of support for the fisheries sector under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). We also announced this morning a £27 million package of support for the industry, including up to £25 million for decommissioning during the coming financial year, to bring whitefish capacity more closely into line with available fishing opportunities and help put the remainder of the fleet on a sounder financial footing for the future.

Football

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will help to fund the establishment of football supporters’ trusts and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive wishes to see responsible supporters’ groups have the opportunity to contribute to the development of their clubs, but we have no plans to help fund the establishment of football supporters’ trusts.

  If a sufficient number of supporters wish to establish a trust, the shared costs of doing so will be very modest. The Executive’s main priority at present is to encourage and assist the development of football academies to develop our talented young footballers.

Football

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue advice and guidance on the setting up of football supporters’ trusts.

Allan Wilson: Guidance on the setting up of football supporters’ trusts is being prepared at present. Once it is complete we propose to arrange a seminar for interested parties at which the guidance can be disseminated and discussed.

Gaelic

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new teachers capable of teaching in Gaelic-medium schools are expected to qualify this year and how many existing Gaelic-medium teachers are expected to retire.

Mr Jack McConnell: There are 15 students who may qualify as Gaelic-medium teachers this year. No information is held centrally on existing Gaelic-medium teachers who are expected to retire.

Gaelic

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students starting a postgraduate certificate in education course this year will be qualified Gaelic-medium teachers on completion.

Mr Jack McConnell: Teacher education institutions are currently in the process of selection of students for entry to initial teacher education courses in academic session 2001-02. It is, therefore, not known at this time how many students starting a postgraduate certificate in education course this year may qualify as Gaelic-medium teachers on completion.

  There are 11 students who started a postgraduate certificate in education course in academic session 2000-01 who may qualify as Gaelic-medium teachers on completion of the course this year.

Gaelic

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to remedy any shortage of Gaelic teachers.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive recent guidance to the Scottish Higher Education Council (SHEFC) on initial teacher education draws the council’s attention to the fact that the supply of Gaelic-medium teachers continues to be a priority for Scottish ministers. SHEFC have been asked to pursue ways to increase the supply of Gaelic-medium teachers for introduction in academic session 2001-02.

Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been treated by the NHS to date in 2000-01 compared to 1996-97.

Susan Deacon: People are treated in a variety of settings by the NHS, for example as in-patients to hospital, through out-patient clinics (consultant and nurse-led), by their GP and by community health visitor or other community health teams contacts. Although information on some of these forms of treatment is gathered centrally, a number of contacts with the NHS are not recorded centrally, for example visits to nurse-led clinics.

  Centrally-collected information about contacts with the NHS (for example number of in-patient and day case discharges) is available on the ISD Online website at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the reported instruction by the Scottish Executive’s head of New Media and Presentation that NHSiS staff should not give out information, photographs or reactions to researchers from the Sunday Times Good Hospital Guide complies with the Code of Openness in the NHS.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any minister was aware of or sanctioned the reported instruction by the Scottish Executive’s Head of New Media and Presentation that NHSiS staff should not give out information, photograph or reactions to researchers from the Sunday Times Good Hospital Guide .

Susan Deacon: The Code of Practice on Openness for the NHS in Scotland makes a presumption of openness and accessibility of information. In response to a recent request for advice from an NHS Trust, the Executive confirmed that the code does not, however, require the NHS to provide information already widely available publicly or where to do so would result in an unacceptable diversion of resources from patient care.

  Requests for information are considered on an individual basis and decisions on whether to provide information depend on the subject matter and content. It is not normal practice to seek ministerial approval for the handling of each such request. Under the proposed Freedom of Information Bill, requests will continue to be considered case by case.

Health

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it currently takes into account in the measurement of health inequalities.

Susan Deacon: Inequalities in health are reflected in many different aspects of people’s health. For example, the proportion of babies born with low birth weight is higher among people living in relatively deprived areas. The incidence of many diseases including lung cancer, coronary heart disease and respiratory diseases is also much higher in deprived areas. Mortality rates are higher and as a result the average life expectancy of people living in deprived areas is less than that of people living in more affluent areas. There is, therefore, no single measure of health inequalities but rather a wide range of measures that must be taken into account to reflect the influence of socio-economic circumstances on health.

  Tackling inequalities is a key priority for the Scottish Executive and our long-term aims for tackling poverty and injustice were set out in Social justice… a Scotland where everyone matters. Several of the milestones in the Social Justice document are important measures of health. Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change reinforces our commitment to tackling health inequalities within Scotland, and states that "we will develop the health indicators within our Social Justice framework of targets and milestones to track progress in tackling health inequalities".

Information Technology

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the concord for metadata in education and other IT data input standards are applied when public bodies seek funds from it for projects.

Nicol Stephen: The concord drafted by the UK Metatagging in Education Group (MEG) is not a data input standard. It is a series of principles underpinning the work of the group in developing and promoting guidance on the use of descriptive standards, or "metadata", for meaningfully and usefully describing educational content. The National Grid for Learning (NGfL) in Scotland already uses a set of metadata standards closely based on existing international standards, and adoption of these is now normal for schools material commissioned by the Executive and by Learning and Teaching Scotland. The Executive has been represented at all meetings of UK MEG, and we expect that the NGfL Scotland standards will be influential in shaping wider agreement on metadata for content intended for schools.

Justice

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8534 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 July 2000, whether any cases in the last six months have been abandoned because of a breach of statutory time limits and, if so, how many.

Neil Davidson: Between 1 August 2000 and 31 January 2001, 1,113 cases are recorded as having been marked no proceedings by Procurators Fiscal on the ground that they had been reported to the fiscal after the expiry of the relevant statutory time bar.

  No cases are recorded as having been marked "no further proceedings" on the ground that there had been a breach of a statutory time limit, but it is almost certainly the case that the imminent expiry of a time limit has contributed to decisions to discontinue proceedings in which there have been other problems (for example, lack of success in serving a summary complaint).

Justice

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list, for each local authority area, how much money was collected by each district court in each year since 1995-96 and how much of this was (a) remitted to the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer and (b) retained by each local authority.

Mr Jim Wallace: The available information, from the annual statistical returns made by the district courts, is shown in the table. Only incomplete data are available in respect of 1995-96 and 1996-97. No money collected by the district courts is remitted to the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer. Monies collected by the court that are not retained by the local authority are remitted to the Exchequer.

  Financial penalties collected by district courts in Scotland1, 2, 3 (£000)

  


Commission Area 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  



Value received 
  

Value sent to Exchequer 
  

Value received 
  

Value sent to Exchequer 
  

Value received 
  

Value sent to Exchequer 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

790 
  

598 
  

 730 
  

 550 
  

 789 
  

 597 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

589 
  

452 
  

 725 
  

 570 
  

 728 
  

 423 
  



Angus 
  

169 
  

188 
  

 346 
  

 261 
  

 481 
  

 385 
  



Argyll & Bute 
  

177 
  

116 
  

 166 
  

 188 
  

 181 
  

 102 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

116 
  

73 
  

 106 
  

 67 
  

 97 
  

 63 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

679 
  

541 
  

 764 
  

 597 
  

 694 
  

 523 
  



Dundee City 
  

558 
  

359 
  

 504 
  

 331 
  

 476 
  

 289 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

202 
  

153 
  

 214 
  

 155 
  

 220 
  

 151 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

150 
  

104 
  

 147 
  

 96 
  

 132 
  

 86 
  



East Lothian 
  

222 
  

171 
  

 224 
  

 174 
  

 202 
  

 157 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

33 
  

54 
  

 119 
  

 84 
  

 151 
  

 104 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

2,165 
  

1,372 
  

 1,363 
  

 1,098 
  

 1,072 
  

 896 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

50 
  

24 
  

 56 
  

 13 
  

 39 
  

 17 
  



Falkirk 
  

405 
  

300 
  

 384 
  

 286 
  

 409 
  

 313 
  



Fife 
  

452 
  

421 
  

 539 
  

 422 
  

 632 
  

 588 
  



Glasgow City 
  

2,676 
  

1,552 
  

 2,474 
  

 1,469 
  

 4,351 
  

 792 
  



Highland 
  

402 
  

220 
  

 599 
  

 338 
  

 594 
  

 390 
  



Inverclyde 
  

212 
  

180 
  

 325 
  

 207 
  

 248 
  

 2094




Midlothian 
  

98 
  

178 
  

 213 
  

 110 
  

 185 
  

 97 
  



Moray 
  

181 
  

114 
  

 214 
  

 155 
  

 109 
  

 90 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

256 
  

193 
  

 265 
  

 159 
  

 231 
  

 133 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

442 
  

N/A 
  

 110 
  

 N/A 
  

 171 
  

 N/A 
  



Perth & Kinross 
  

391 
  

303 
  

 723 
  

 392 
  

 386 
  

 287 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

224 
  

140 
  

 208 
  

 136 
  

 261 
  

 172 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

364 
  

297 
  

 419 
  

 387 
  

 452 
  

 405 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

185 
  

120 
  

 239 
  

 150 
  

 233 
  

 158 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

608 
  

417 
  

 749 
  

 545 
  

 489 
  

 419 
  



Stirling 
  

266 
  

204 
  

 334 
  

 N/A 
  

 263 
  

 N/A 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

167 
  

55 
  

 202 
  

 92 
  

 152 
  

 102 
  



West Lothian 
  

346 
  

245 
  

 387 
  

 470 
  

 359 
  

 416 
  



Scotland 
  

 13,577 
  

 9,144 
  

 13,849 
  

 9,502 
  

 14,786 
  

 8,363 
  



  N/A denotes data not available.

  Notes:

  1. The data on the value of money received relates to court-imposed fines (including back-duty), registered fines, compensation orders, police and procurator fiscal conditional offers of fixed penalties and police fixed penalty notices.

  2. The amount retained by the courts will not be exactly the difference between the amount received and the amount remitted to Exchequer, as this may not all have been collected in the year in which it was remitted. In addition, missing data must be considered, as indicated in footnote 3.

  3. Value received excludes some types of fine for the following district courts for the following years:

  1997-98—Angus, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire.

  1998-99—Fife, Glasgow, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire.

  1999-2000—Fife, Glasgow, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire.

  4. 1999-2000—Inverclyde - value received includes an amount received from Glasgow in respect of allocation of undistributed balances over 12-month period for fixed penalty notices for non-endorsable traffic offences.

Local Government

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage local authorities and all other public bodies to put Remploy and Blind Workshops on their list of suppliers to compete for contracts under the Best Value regime.

Angus MacKay: In pursuing Best Value local authorities should consider all routes to service improvement. They are expected not to discriminate between potential means of service delivery on any grounds other than those prescribed by statute or directive.

  The Scottish Executive’s approach to Best Value in local government is not prescriptive about tender exercises to any great degree, but where sheltered employers such as Remploy and Blind Workshops are eligible to compete for contracts and meet the basic criteria set by the invitation to tender, we would certainly encourage local authorities and other public bodies to allow them to do so.

  The Scottish Executive’s own procurement guidance encourages buyers to include sheltered employers on tender lists wherever possible.

Local Government Finance

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail all capital funding given to local authorities and public bodies in the Highlands and Islands parliamentary region in (i) 1999 and (ii) 2000 for the provision or improvement of island infrastructure including marine works, roads and coastal defences, broken down by project and by local authority.

Angus MacKay: The information requested is not held centrally.

Local Government Finance

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any additional costs to local authorities as a result of the McCrone settlement and, if so, whether it will publish these costs, broken down by each authority.

Mr Jack McConnell: As I made clear in my statement to Parliament on 14 February and previously in correspondence with COSLA, local authorities will not, as a result of the McCrone settlement, be expected to make any contribution from their budgets beyond that which they would normally be expected to make.

Modernising Government

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the progress of projects which have received funding from the Modernising Government Fund and, in particular, the development of a new customer service centre in South Lanarkshire, the "eCare Project" and the use of telecommunication technology in public access kiosks in Dumfries and Galloway.

Angus MacKay: On 18 December 2000, I announced £26 million of funding to support 36 projects. The funds have still to be drawn down and at the present time it is too early to say how the projects are progressing.

  All of the projects are being monitored by the Executive and the project plans, along with progress reports for each of the projects, will be published on the Executives 21st Century Government website.

NHS Funding

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the document Fair Shares for All from July 1999, when it will publish the technical report for the second Arbuthnott formula.

Susan Deacon: We have no plans to publish a further technical report on the Arbuthnott formula. The first report, published in 1999, was accompanied by a very detailed technical report which explained fully the sources of data, methods of analysis and results. The data sources and methods of analysis used in the further work were largely similar to those used in the first report. Any technical changes are explained in the final report which contains a number of technical appendices.

NHS Funding

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the factors to be taken into account in assessing needs for the first and second Arbuthnott formulae.

Susan Deacon: The key influences on the relative health care needs of each health board’s population are population, the age and sex structure, morbidity and life circumstances, and remoteness. The specific factors that were taken into account by the steering group in assessing the influence of these factors are described fully in the first report (and accompanying technical report) and in the final report.

  The most significant change in the final report is the use of a single index (the Arbuthnott index) to reflect the influence of the factors that influence health care needs. This is based on four indicators: mortality rates among people under 65, unemployment, elderly people on income support, and households with multiple indicators of deprivation. The development of this index is set out in the final report.

NHS Funding

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether unemployment rates are double-counted in the second Arbuthnott formula.

Susan Deacon: The unemployment rate is one of the factors that are taken into account in calculating the Arbuthnott index, and this index is used to assess the influence of morbidity and life circumstances on the need for health care. It is not used in any other part of the formula and therefore unemployment rates are not double-counted.

NHS Funding

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons were for the change in the measure of rurality between the first and second Arbuthnott formulae.

Susan Deacon: The first report considered a number of indicators of the influence of remote and rural areas on the costs of delivering health care. During consultation, several suggestions were made for further analysis of this issue, and the additional evidence considered by the steering group showed that the number of road kilometres per 1,000 population is a slightly better indicator of remoteness than the indicators that were considered in the first report. This change and the reasons for it are described in the final report.

NHS Trusts

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is proposing to issue any guidelines to NHS Trusts on their consultation procedures.

Susan Deacon: Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change has as amongst its core aims involving people and communities in the design and delivery of health services. The plan therefore commits the Executive to a number of initiatives aimed at improving the way in which the NHS consults on service developments. These include reviewing the statutory guidance on formal consultation to ensure that it meets the needs of modern health care systems, and takes into account the changes to NHS planning announced elsewhere in that plan. We will also provide guidance, training and support to local NHS leaders to enable them to involve the public effectively in the management of changes to local services.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued or plans to issue guidance to valuation boards on whether the siting of an automated teller machine within retail premises would have any effect on that premise’s business rates.

Peter Peacock: The interpretation of the non-domestic rating regulations is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who act independently of local and central government.

Nursing

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the First Minister what action it plans to take, in the light of the recent UNISON survey, to reduce the volume of student nurses leaving the nursing profession.

Henry McLeish: Around 75% of student nurses complete their training courses successfully.

  In conjunction with the higher education institutions, which provide nurse education, the Scottish Executive has been and is continuing to take positive steps to reduce the drop-out rate from courses.

Organ Transplants

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to investigate waiting lists for cardiac transplant surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Susan Deacon: The waiting list is kept under constant review. Its size is influenced by a number of factors, including referral rates and the availability of medical therapies as alternatives to transplantation.

Physical Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the physical education programme in schools.

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that sport is given some priority in the school curriculum and that there is a natural role for sport in schools given that it does not feature as one of the national priorities in education.

Mr Jack McConnell: The guidance to education authorities and schools emphasises that sport and other forms of physical education make an essential contribution to pupils’ health and general well-being. The context and opportunity for this lies within the national priority "to teach pupils respect for self and one another and their interdependence with other members of their neighbourhood and society and to teach them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship in a democratic society".

  Increasing the amount of time devoted to sport could, however, only be done at the expense of other areas of the school curriculum.

  There are no plans to review current arrangements for providing physical education programmes in the school curriculum. However, sportscotland is working closely with education authorities in a number of programmes to promote sporting and physical activity in schools.

Poverty

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has made to the proposals affecting it in the Scottish Affairs Committee Report, Poverty in Scotland .

Jackie Baillie: There was no formal requirement for the Scottish Executive to respond to the Scottish Affairs Committee’s Report on Poverty in Scotland . However, as part of our ongoing co-operation and dialogue with the UK Government, I wrote to the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Dr John Reid, on 21 November 2000, indicating where the Scottish Executive stands on those recommendations with a devolved dimension.

  A copy of my letter was included as an annex in the UK Government’s formal response, which was published on 13 December 2000, and is available on the House of Commons website. A copy of the Government’s response (HC-55) and the report itself (HC59-I) is also available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Public Transport

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had or plans to have with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive concerning the Glasgow Crossrail scheme.

Sarah Boyack: No approach has been made to the Scottish Executive by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive regarding this project.

Road Accidents

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to address the fact that children from low income families are more likely to die in road accidents than children from more affluent families.

Sarah Boyack: On 26 February I re-launched the Children’s Traffic Club in Scotland. The club offers free road safety training to all children in Scotland aged three and four. The club’s format and materials have been revised to encourage greater use by lower income families.

Road Safety

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it proposes to take to improve road safety on the A90 north of Ellon.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has a number of proposed improvement schemes within the current three-year programme for the A90 trunk road north of Ellon at an estimated cost of £1,615,000.

  The estimated scheme costs are as follows:

  


Scheme Specific Details 
  

2001-02 
  

2002-03 
  

2003-04 
  

Total 
  






£ 
  



Hatton Bends Improvement scheme 
  

500,000 
  

515,000 
  

0 
  

1,015,000 
  



Cortes Junction 
  

0 
  

0 
  

300,000 
  

300,000 
  



Cruden Bay Junction 
  

0 
  

0 
  

100,000 
  

100,000 
  



North of Ellon Roundabout to Fraserburgh Route Accident 
  Reduction Plan 
  

200,000 
  

0 
  

0 
  

200,000 
  



Total 
  

700,000 
  

515,000 
  

400,000 
  

1,615,000 
  



  In addition, any accident cluster sites that are identified on the trunk road network by the Scottish Executive Accident Investigation Unit will be investigated and any agreed remedial measures will be progressed subject to funding and competing priorities on the trunk road network.

Schools

Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of school pupils went to (a) private and (b) state-funded schools in (i) 1979, (ii) 1992 and (iii) each year since 1997, broken down by local authority and in Scotland as a whole.

Mr Jack McConnell: The information requested is given in tables which have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 11120).

Sport

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it attaches to the provision of leisure and sporting activities by local authorities in areas of established rural deprivation.

Allan Wilson: The provision of such activities is a matter for each local authority to consider, but the Executive recognises the significant contribution that sport has to make to various aspects of Scottish life.

  Detailed targets for taking forward the ambitions of sport in Scotland are set out within Sport 21: Nothing Left to Chance, the national strategy for sport. In particular, Sport 21 contains a target to increase the number of people who participate in sport from a number of groups including rural communities.

  sportscotland, through the Lottery Sports Fund, is leading the work in taking forward this target. It has invested some £98 million, over 21%, of Lottery capital grants for new facilities in deprived areas throughout Scotland.

Telecommunications

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when an integrated digital network will be established in Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The core telecommunications networks in Scotland provided by operators such as BT, Thus and Energis, all are engineered as Integrated Digital Networks. The fibre backbone extends from Wick in the Highlands, through central Scotland and into Galashiels in the South of Scotland. The principle challenge is to ensure that advanced digital services are extended out to individual customers – the so-called "last mile" problem. The Scottish Executive is working to promote conditions for the most rapid and comprehensive provision of such services.

Water Charges

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households will benefit from the transitional water and sewerage charges relief scheme.

Allan Wilson: I estimate that more than 180,000 households will benefit from the scheme.

Water Supply

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-12531 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 30 January 2001, which organisations will be consulted on the proposed revisions to the private water supply regulations.

Mr Sam Galbraith: A definitive list of consultees has not yet been finalised but it is anticipated that a wide range of organisations representing all aspects of Scottish society and business will be directly consulted in relation to the revision of the private water supply regulations. In addition, the consultation paper will be made available through the Stationary Office Bookshop, appropriate libraries and the Executive’s website, thereby allowing the widest possible consultation to be undertaken.